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http://www.archive.org/details/quaintoldgermantOOrich 



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a paper read before 
The Pennsylvania-German Society 

AT THE ANNUAL MEETING 

riegelsville, bucks county, pennsylvania 
October 4Th, 1912 



BY 

JULIUS FRIEDRICH SACHSE 



ILLUSTRATED WITH SIXTY COPIES OF 
THE ORIGINAL SKETCHES 







LANCASTER, PA. 
1915 






Ipublfcation Commfttee 

JULIUS F. SACHSE, LITT.D. 
DANIEL W. NEAD, M.D. 
J. E. B. BUCKENHAM, M.D. 



Copyrighted 1915 

BY 

The Pennsylvania-German Society 



Press of 

The New era Printing Company 

Lancaster, pa. 



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QUAINT OLD GERMANTOWN. 



By Julius F. Sachse. 

HE following paper was 
read before the Penn- 
sylvania-German Society at 
the Twenty-second Annual 
Meeting, held at Riegels- 
ville, Bucks County, Penn- 
sylvania, Friday, October 
4, 1 9 1 2, and was illustrated 
by sixty lantern slides of the 
old landmarks, as sketched 
by John Richard. These 
views are here reproduced 
upon a somewhat smaller scale than the original drawings. 
Quaint, historic, old Germantown, was the earliest orga- 
nized German community in Pennsylvania, if not in the 
western world. The settlement was made under a grant 
to William Penn, founded more than two and a quarter 
centuries ago, and renowned for almost all these years for 




1691 



4 The Pennsylvania-German Society. 

its quaint buildings scattered along its single main street, 
its curious characters, singular customs of its early inhabi- 
tants, superstitions and folk-lore. Many of these tradi- 
tions and habits are still kept alive in some of the old 
families of the original German stock, who are now in the 
seventh and eighth generations from the early immigrants. 

This quaint townstead, when laid out by Pastorius for 
the Frankfort Company, was far away from Penn's pro- 
jected sylvan city on the Delaware, and for many years 
was a community in itself. But now, after the lapse of 
two centuries, it is one of the most fashionable sections 
of the great consolidated city of Philadelphia, and is 
officially known as the Twenty-second Ward. 

The peculiar straggling homes of the early settlers on 
the single street have given place to modern stores and 
houses, a network of streets has been opened through 
adjoining gardens and fields, and the whole plot of the 
old German township is now covered by an almost solidly 
built-up city — of homes, business houses and industrial 
establishments. 

Many of the humble, unpretentious structures, por- 
trayed in this work, have given place to the pretentious 
mansions and palatial residences of some of Philadelphia's 
wealthy citizens. 

From the very beginning of the Germantown settlement, 
there have been curious characters who flourished within 
the townstead, or in the immediate vicinity. As early as 
1694 we have the arrival of the mystical community of 
German Pietists, under the leadership of the gentle 
Magister Johannes Kelpius and his follower Johannes 
Seelig, and later Dr. Christopher Witt and his Famulus, 
Daniel Geissler, both buried upon "Spook hill." Now, 
after two centuries, their graves are enclosed within the 



Quaint Old Germantown. 5 

chancel of St. Michael's P. E. Church on High Street, 
which is built on the old Warner graveyard. A proper 
memorial tablet has within late years been placed upon the 
walls of the sacred edifice. The incentive for this act was 
the published history of these "German Pietists" by the 
present writer. 

Then there was Conrad Matthai, mystic and recluse, 
the last of these " Hermits on the Wissahickon," who died 
at the end of August, 1748. He was said to have been of 
noble birth, but his identity has never been solved. 

Later in the century we have Christian Lehman, a 
scholar of Dr. Witt, who cast nativities and horoscopes. 

Mention must also be made of the founders of the 
Dunker Church in America — Alexander Mack and his 
followers— who founded the First-Day (Sunday) Brethren, 
and Conrad Beissel and his converts, who started the 
Seventh-Day congregation of the Brethren. 

The names of the Eckerlin brothers, the Gorgas family 
and others of the Ephrata Community, are also identified 
more or less with Germantown: the former especially so 
by their close connection with Christopher Sauer the elder, 
the erratic printer of Germantown. 

Count Zinzendorf, Bechtel and the early Moravians 
who, during the middle of the eighteenth century, were 
active factors in the German Township, must not be 
forgotten. 

Benjamin Lay, the Pythagorean hermit, whose cave was 
on the York Road, was also in close communion with the 
Quakers of Germantown. During the Revolutionary 
period, the name of Christopher Ludwick, as Baker- 
general of the Continental Army, stands out in bold relief. 

Coming down to our own day, there came to German- 
town, about sixty years ago, a young Swede, John Rich- 



6 The Pennsylvania-German Society. 

ards, as he was known, who worked as a gardener and day 
laborer. At the outbreak of the Civil War, John Rich- 
ards enlisted. May, 1861, in Company K, 59th Regiment, 
New York Volunteers. Private Richards was wounded, 
August, 1862, at the battle of Bull Run, also at Antietam, 
September, 1862. He died August 26, 1889. It was 
while Private Richards was convalescent at the Chestnut 
Hill Hospital that he began sketching some of the old 
landmarks and buildings of Germantown. From these 
crude sketches he later made drawings on zinc plates, 
from which an impression could be taken by the litho- 
graphic process. Richards's drawings were often some- 
what out of perspective, more or less harsh and lacking in 
detail, especially where he attempted to introduce figures 
or animals. At the same time, considering the fact that he 
never had any instruction in art, these sketches have a 
merit and individuality of their own. Their chief value, 
however, consists in the fact that they have preserved to 
us and generations to come the views and landmarks of 
historic and quaint Germantown of days gone by. 

John Richards, after his discharge from the army, re- 
mained in Germantown, and was given the position of 
sexton of Calvary P. E. Church on Manheim Street; and 
during his spare time made many of the sketches afore- 
said. Some of these views were printed many years ago 
by a local lithographer, and sold to residents and visitors. 
No attempt, however, was made at uniformity, or a proper 
description and location of the subjects. Some fifteen 
years ago, a number of these original zinc plates, together 
with impressions of some views previously issued, came 
into the possession of the present writer who, realizing 
their great historic value, for the present as well as future 
generations, has issued this edition. Thirty-three of these 



Quaint Old Germantown. 7 

views are reductions from the identical zinc plates made 
by John Richards; eight are reproductions of original 
sketches now first published; while the remainder are 
from transfers made of prints from the original plates. 

The various views have been arranged and grouped 
according to their location: each side of the Main street 
has been taken separately, with a short legend, giving the 
present system of street numeration, so that the sites of 
these historic landmarks may be easily Identified. This 
Important feature was made possible by the researches and 
aid given to the writer by Messrs. Edwin C. Jellett and 
Dr. Naaman H. Keyser of Germantown. 

Julius Friedrich Sachse. 

Philadelphia, 
January, 1913. 




HOME OF AN EARLY SETTLER. 




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